Star Crossed
by Saelwen-Elenchild
Summary: Star Crossed: Characterised by consistant ill fortune, as though brought about by the influence of the stars. As Harry Potter struggles to fight Voldermort, his best friend and enemy struggle to keep their sanity in the face of growing darkness. Post HBP
1. Prologue

Star-Crossed

Disclaimer- don't own Harry Potter or any of the associated characters, places ect ect

A/N- Okay this isn't my first attempt of writing a story, not by a long shot, but its my first attempt at writing a story that's actually interesting. Please don't think just cause the titles Star- Crossed that its going to be some cliché romance about Star-cross'd lovers. Star- Crossed means that fate is against you, and fate can be against you in many ways, not just relationship wise. That said this is of course still a romance. Just hopefully not a cliché one.

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Prologue

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A scream cut the silence like a knife. A few of the junior Death eaters shifted nervously. The rest stood still, used to events like this. This was what happened when you failed the Dark Lord. They all knew the consequences. The scream was replaced with sobbing and bursts of pleading. In the centre of the Death Eater circle stood the source of the victim's pain, the Dark lord himself, Voldermort. He stood now watching the boy writhing in the mud, filth and blood, lip curled up in disgust and fury.

"Crucio."

"Nooooooo!" the boy arched his back, nails digging into his palms, drawing more blood. The unforgivable lifted and he was left gasping for breath, jumbled words falling from his mouth, words he never expected to hear himself utter. "No, please stop, please I'll do anything. Please."

"Crucio"

Another scream was ripped from the boys cracked and torn lips. Something told him it was almost over. His body could no longer handle it; the pain and pressure were too much. He viewed his imminent death dispassionately. Anything was better than this. He had thought that for years but really that was just teenage angst talking. But now for the first time he actually meant it.

"Crucio."

A wretched cry, like that of some fell animal. This time even some of the older Death eaters shifted as the watched the boy's body convulse violently then suddenly go still. Silence fell again, only the distant pounding of rain to show there was still a world beyond the dark cavern they sheltered in. A laugh came from the Dark lord and a few of the death eaters joined in half-heartedly. Torturing muggles and mudblood filth was all fine and good but when it was one of your fellow death eaters and when there was a chance it could be you in the not to distant future, well then it was a whole less amusing story. The Dark lord nudged the boy's head, none too gently, with one booted foot. It lolled lifelessly.

"Severus!"

"Yes my Lord?"

The man emerged from the shadows, carefully sidestepping the growing pool of blood.

"Dispose of his body then report back here. I have not forgotten what you did, don't fret you will receive your reward soon enough." The tone of the Dark lords hissed words made it sound more like a threat, but Severus Snape made no sign to have picked up on this. Inclining his head, he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, and with a crack, the two vanished.

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	2. Breathe No More

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Disclaimer- don't own Harry Potter. 

Chapter 1) Breathe No More

* * *

_I've been looking in the mirror for so long_

_That I've come to believe my souls on the other side_

_All the little pieces falling shatter_

_Shards of me_

_Too sharp to put back together_

_Too small to matter_

_But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces_

_And I bleed_

I bleed 

_And I breathe_

_I breathe no more_

Evanescence

* * *

The pain has gone now, replaced by a curious sensation of floating. I am floating, floating through nothingness. Usually situations like this scared me. Not knowing what was going on, it made me uncomfortable. If I didn't know what was happening, how could I control it? But for some reason I didn't feel that way this time. Maybe its cause I'm dying. 

It's a year ago today. I think I'm the only one that remembered. Snape didn't remember and the Dark lord certainly didn't, but I did. One year ago today, I woke to my mothers beautiful, terrified face and was told that I had been sent for, by him. Well there's only one 'him' we ever talk about in our house, so I knew at once what she meant. I couldn't understand why she looked so frightened. But my mother was not stupid. She was not the wife of Lucius Malfoy for nothing. If only I'd payed attention to her. She once sent me a letter, the usual you'd expect from a mother to their only child, away at school. Sweet but also reserved and formal, as is her way. Then at the very end she wrote a sentence I'll never forget. She said 'we can get away if you wish. I know people that will shelter us. Say the word and everything can end.' Of course I was not stupid either. It didn't matter how far I ran, he would always be able to find me. So I stayed.

But I am getting off track aren't I? Its such a curious place this. It's almost as though I'm reliving my life over this past year. I can see it all perfectly, that first ever audience with the Dark Lord. I was so arrogant, so sure that he had singled me out, at the age of sixteen due to my extraordinary skills. It never occurred to me, till long after that he was just trying to get back at my father for failing his ministry mission. But by then it was too late, far too late.

And so I blindly accepted his mission and agreed to kill my ridiculously soft headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. I thought it would be so easy; after all he was an old man, far older than anyone else I knew. And he would be expecting attack from outside the school. He would never suspect that one of his own students would try to off him. I was so young back then, so incredibly young and stupid.

* * *

Severus appeared in a deserted alleyway in wizarding London. It was pouring with rain still and he looked about, wanting to get this over and done with quickly. He had considered taking the body back to Narcissa but decided against it. It would be better she didn't see the mangled wreck her adored son had become. 

"Hey you!"

Severus whirled about wand out but it was only a young wizard calling out for his friends to slow down as they walked along the brightly lit street. Pocketing his wand Severus suddenly felt angry. Draco should have been out there with them, laughing, high on his own youth, not the mud brown and blood crimson body at his feet.

Sighing Severus glanced one last time down at his godson, before getting ready to apparate. But just before he disappeared something made him look back. And as he did he spotted movement, ever so slight. Draco's chest had risen. He was breathing, which meant he was still alive, though not for much longer if something wasn't done.

* * *

I cried out and despite myself, two tears leaked from beneath my tightly shut eyes. Another whistle followed by a sharp crack as the firewand whip connected again, and again I cried out as my skin ripped apart and I felt blood trickle down my back. It seemed to go on forever but later I was told it was only ten whips I received. Finally the masked Death Eater had muttered 'Finite" and the glowing leather that had burst from the end of his wand, retracted and vanished. 

They sent me back by portkey to Hogsmeade. I don't know quite how I made it up to the castle, seeing as I was rather out of it from blood loss and pain. I guess it helped that most of the school was at the quidditch pitch, watching the Slytherin versus Gryffindor match that I was supposed to be playing in. I didn't care wether Slytherin lost. There were more important things to worry about, like the fact I had just had my first report to the Dark lord and had just learnt, first hand the power of his displeasure. On hearing that I hadn't yet succeeded in mending the cabinet and also about my botched attempt to send Dumbledore a poisoned necklace, the Dark lord had ordered them to give me ten firewand whips as 'encouragement' to speed up the process. And now I knew just how much the Dark lord cared about his followers. The answer was zero.

I had stopped in at the common room quickly to pick up a fresh change of clothes; my own being ripped and bloody, then made my way gingerly to the prefect's bathroom.

The floating feeling doesn't feel so great now. It's actually making me feel a bit ill, and the pain is starting to come back. Why won't it go away? If I'm dead I shouldn't be able to feel anything.

* * *

She didn't know where to run. She couldn't go back to the common room; there were too many people there. Behind her she could still hear Ron's shouts as he tried to fight off the canneries she had sent to attack him. There was only one other option in the fork before her, to take the right hand turn toward the prefect baths. A bath, that's just what she needed right now, a calm relaxing bubble bath. So ignoring the tears that kept traitorously sliding down her cheeks, she hurried to the bathroom, gave the password and pushed through. 

He looked up as she entered, frozen. Obviously he had just gotten out of the bath as his hair was dripping wet and he was wearing only a pair of loose black pants.

"Whatever happened to knocking, or don't muggle's do that either?" He finally sneered seeming to regain some composure. Taken aback she couldn't think of anything to retort with so merely just stood watching him, aware that she still had tears glistening on her cheeks. After a few moments he reached over to pick up his shirt and as he did something on his arm caught her eye. On his forearm a section of skin was burned black, branded she knew suddenly and without doubt by the dark mark. Harry was right, all this time. He really was a Death Eater and none of them had believed him. She must have let out a gasp or something because he glanced at her as he carefully pulled on his shirt and did up the buttons. Finishing the last one, he picked up his things and walked towards her till he was close enough for her to smell his musky cologne.

"And mudblood?" Despite herself she looked up into his silvery grey eyes. "You tell anyone and I'll personally see to it that it'll be the last thing you do." And with that he pushed roughly past her and exited the bathroom.

A long bath and good cry later and she was standing before the mirror using her wand to twirl her hair into more manageable curls when a glimpse of red caught her eye. In the corner of the room, half kicked under the sink was a shirt covered in something crimson. Picking it up she almost dropped it when she realised the red sticky liquid was blood. It had rips all across the back and a good measure of dirt as well as blood. Why was it covered in blood? Was someone hurt?

There was a scent almost masked by the metallic smell of dried blood and sweat, a musky smell, the same musky smell as his fancy cologne. With a start she let go of the shirt and exited the bathroom.

* * *

Hermione woke from a dream to a tapping. Looking at first in confusion to the door, it took her several moments to realise it was instead coming from the window where an owl was trying to keep flight while tapping on the window at the same time. Quickly she slipped out of bed and ran to let the owl in. Quickly removing the letter and shooing it back out the window, Hermione fervently ripped open the envelope and scanned the letter. It seemed she had been right. Glancing at the clock on the bedside table she decided it was early enough to be up and began getting dressed. 


	3. Numb

Disclaimer- Don't Own Harry Potter and associated media

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Chapter 2) Numb

_I'm tired of being what you want me to be_

_Feeling so faithless_

_Lost under the surface_

_I don't know what you're expecting of me_

_Put under the pressure_

_Of walking in your shoes_

_Every step that I take is another mistake to you_

_I've become so numb _

_I can't feel you there_

_Become so tired_

_So much more aware_

_I'm becoming this_

_All I want to do_

_Is be more like me_

_And be less like you_

But I know I may end up failing too 

_But I know _

_You were just like me_

_With someone disappointed in you_

* * *

Granger found out, yet unusually for her she didn't run straight to McGonagall or even Potter. It was still a fear at the back of my mind though, to add to my numerous others. What if the Dark Lord found out that I had been careless enough to let her see? Would I again be punished or worse, would he make good on his threat to harm my mother? Of course he had also threatened to hurt my father but that did not rouse the same result in me. Lucius is not the sort of man you can love. I looked up to him and envied him, how could I not, all that power and fame. I wanted to be just like him. Until, that is, I realised that his life wasn't just people grovelling to him, It was him grovelling to a half blood madman. I'm not exactly sure when it was I decided I didn't want to be like him Maybe it was when he began hitting my mother. He was always knocking me about, had been since I was a child so I was fairly used to it, but to see him bruise my beautiful mother and make her cry and bleed, it caused such deep feelings of loathing that before I knew it I hated him. And when I realised I was just being punished for my father's actions that was when I made the vowed never to be like him, I would never make the same mistakes. In a way it meant I was finally free from him. I no longer had to worry that I might fail or disappoint him because by now I frankly didn't give a shit what he thought of me.

Granger. Pretty ironic that she was the one to give me so much help that year albeit unbeknownst. It was her that gave me the idea not only for the poisoned mead but also the enchanted coins to contact Rosmerta, my imperious victim. I would have loved to tell her, just to see her horrified expression. She is the most open person I know. You can always know what she's thinking and feeling cause it is shown as though written in bold letters across her face. She'd have made an awful Death Eater, or pureblood for that matter.

Thinking of mudblood Granger makes me remember the day Potter slashed me open with that damn curse of his. I always wondered why she came to visit me in the hospital wing. It must have been late at night cause it was dark and there was no one else around. It was her coming in that woke me up. She sat in the chair beside my bed and just watched me. I stared back at her through half closed eyes so she wouldn't see I was awake. After looking at me silently for about fifteen or so minutes she got up and left. Weird, though then again she is a mudblood and wouldn't have been taught proper etiquette and manners. I don't expect to ever see her again but if I do, I'll be sure to ask her about it.

Why is the pain coming back? Typical as soon as a resign myself to dying I find myself being dragged back to consciousness. Why won't he just let me die, I want to die. I don't want this anymore. I don't want this life. I want my freedom back.

* * *

"Healer Praxos there's some people here to see you." The pretty young healer knocked on the doorframe to get her bosses attention.

"Right you are Maire, send them in."

Marie turned and nodded to Hermione who was hovering anxiously behind her. Thanking her, Hermione waved to get Harry and Ron's attention from where they sat on the bench further down the corridor. Both young men jumped to their feet and hastily made their way to join her. Hardly able to keep the excited smile from her lips she turned and entered the office of Ambrogio Praxos last descendent of Rowena Ravenclaw.

* * *

By the end I didn't care. By the end I was ground down so far nothing mattered. I had become ill, perhaps one of the after effects of Potter's curse, perhaps just due to my increasingly poor diet and sleeping pattens, and I was in a constant state of feverishness. It was a miracle and also pure accident that I actually succeeded in mending the damn cabinet. After that it all went downhill, far faster than even I its perpetrator had expected. Twelve hours later I would be standing on the astronomy tower with an unarmed and weak old man at my mercy, being told I wasn't a killer.Draco, Draco, you're not a killer 

Something in me snapped. Dumbledore talked to me in a way that no adult ever had before. I wasn't the unwanted growth of the despised Lucius Malfoy. I wasn't the pawn of Voldemort. Even my mother has never spoken to me with me the way he did that night, as though I was an equal. As though I was his equal, the greatest wizard of our time. I made the decision right there and then to go over to the orders side, despite their muggle loving views. Anything was better than that. Anything is better than this. This hell I am living through even now.

Oh Merlin the pain. I can hear screaming from somewhere, a long way off. Maybe the dark lord is torturing someone else. People are calling out in the distance. The pain grows sharper and sharper then suddenly blissfully its gone.

* * *

The three exited the office fifteen minutes later in considerably lower spirits. The only person who could have known of any artefacts of Ravenclaw's had informed them with fatherly patience that there were no surviving artefacts of Ravenclaw's left in the world.

"Well we mustn't lose heart." Hermione said staunchly as they wandered towards the main foyer. "I mean I'm sure there's plenty of other leads we can go on. I can't quite think of any at the moment but I'm sure something will come to me. It's not the end of the world. I mean sure it puts us back a few steps but…" She stopped as she realised she was babbling. Stealing a glance at the boys to see if they'd noticed she saw neither was even looking at her, instead both were staring at something behind her, in the foyer. Hermione turned back around just in time to jump out of the way of a trainee healer who went rushing past them calling for Healer Praxos.

"Voldemort?" She muttered to Harry who gave a noncommittal shrug. The look in his eyes was answer enough though. Almost against their will the three of them moved towards the crowd of healers.

"…found him outside…thought he was dead…is it, do you think…"

A terrified looking man was bouncing from one foot to the other and not seeming to realise no one was paying him the slightest bit of attention. Healer Praxos hurried past them and began forcing the crowd of patients, visitors and staff alike back and for a brief second giving the young trio a clear view of the person lying on the floor.

"Malfoy."


End file.
